


Taylor Makes A Friend

by AParticularlyLargeBear



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 07:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20849672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AParticularlyLargeBear/pseuds/AParticularlyLargeBear
Summary: Taylor is going to make this bug decoy thing work, dammit!





	Taylor Makes A Friend

The problem with Taylor’s power was it didn’t give her a whole lot if a fight was to get up close and personal. She could bite and sting, blind with swarms, choke airways, if it came to that, but if an opponent ever got in striking distance of her, she was just like any other teenaged girl. Pepper spray and a durable costume wouldn’t carry her far in a fistfight, and she didn’t fancy her chances against even an unpowered attacker.

She needed something else, another edge. Taylor didn’t have the money to upgrade her equipment and doubted that online self-defence classes were going to cut it by themselves, especially when she had no partner to practice with. She considered some enhancements to her costume, workshopping the possibilities of building weaponry into it, but her only resources were bugs and all the mandibles in the world weren’t going to amount to much more than a punch dagger. Plus, you know, Taylor wasn’t enthused about the idea of stabbing someone, even in self defence. She’d also experimented for a while trying to make doppelgangers of herself out of bugs, and though it was easy enough to get the right general shape, Taylor couldn’t imagine them holding up to any kind of scrutiny.

Taylor kept coming back to the swarm clones, turning them over and over in her head. The idea had promise, she was certain, it just came down to the execution. She tried wreathing herself in bugs so that the real her was more similar to the decoy Taylors, but she just wound up feeling dirty and creeped out. Even knowing that the insects were under her full control didn’t prevent her skin from crawling at the sight of them writhing across her body. Next, she attempted having some flying bugs carry a vaguely humanoid framework woven from spider silk, but it just didn’t look convincing; actually, it looked even less convincing than the regular swarm clones.

She persisted, as much out of frustration that she couldn’t crack the problem as it was her original worry. Taylor knew that she was onto something. The problem with the marionette was that it didn’t have enough structure, resulting in an insubstantial look. However, if Taylor wove more spider silk together she was essentially just going to create a standing cocoon, and she couldn’t imagine that being remotely useful. At least she learned something new, the pleasant surprise of how much she could move around with enough beetles pulling in the same direction; her bugs were stronger than she thought.

Maybe she was going about this in the wrong way. She was thinking of the distraction in terms of secondary targets, confusing attackers by being so similar to herself, but what if her decoy was different from her? What if it drew attention by being impossible to ignore? What if, at first glance, the fake was the cape? Taylor went back to her hero design notebook. The easiest way of catching the eye was size, though if she made the puppet big, she was going to have to sacrifice complexity. Humanoid would be the best way to ensure she could move it around, but she didn’t necessarily need long legs; actually a low centre of gravity would be better, allowing more insects to propel the thing at the bottom. Taylor found herself smiling as she sketched. One thing was for sure, the bad guys were going to think twice when they saw _this_ bearing down on them

A design took shape on the page and then, in woven silk. A fat body with plenty of room for the huge number of bugs needed to move the decoy around. Stubby legs and skinny, handless arms, since there was no chance in hell fine manipulation was going to happen via bug anyway. A pointy head with big holes for the eyes and mouth. She could even make it ‘speak’ if she had the right bugs jerk up and down, flapping the opening, and that gave her one final idea.

The walkie-talkies and the small amp she taped to one of them cost the rest of her savings, but when Taylor heard them in action, she knew that she was ready.

Another night, another strung-out junkie. Marty hated dealing with scum, or more accurately to scum, but that was what the gang had for him right now. Fuck, he missed pushing in downtown, the suits always overpaid, and he got a bigger cut of that. Unfortunately the wrong idiot had blabbed to the wrong idiot and brought down the heat, so no corp paydays until that all died down.

Gav was usually good for it on the new beat, but a junkie was a junkie, and sooner or later they were always going to flake. He already asked Marty to cut him a deal, and when told no, he’d wound up umming and aahing over whether he was going to pay.

“Look do you want the stuff or not?” Marty asked ill-temperedly. “I don’t have all night.”

Gav, the weasel-faced little shit, actually _whined_. “How about I give you the rest—”

“Right, we’re done,” snapped Marty, turning sharply away, heading for the opening of the alleyway. Goddamn junkies man. Complete waste of his time…

“W-wait!” Gav squeaked. Marty glanced back over his shoulder. Gav scurried up to him, grabbing a fistful of bills out of his filthy overcoat. “I’ll pay! I’ll pay—”

He was cut off by a deep, sinister laugh. From the alley entrance.

Marty swallowed, finding his mouth dry. He turned around slowly.

Facing the two of them down wasn’t something out of Marty’s nightmares, because even his nightmares were saner than this.

A squat, bulbous figure stood there, grinning malevolently. Its eyes were empty pits and its mouth gaped open like the jaws of hell. Two sinuous arms went to its hips, and then it spoke in a voice that buzzed and boomed both.

“WELL WELL WELL. WHAT HAVE WE **HERE?**”

“No no, nonononono,” mumbled Gav, clinging to Marty’s arm.

“Nothing!” Marty shouted defiantly, hearing his own voice crack. “We ain’t doing nothing!”

The...thing laughed again. Marty swore he saw movement inside its mouth.

“YOU’RE JOKING! YOU’RE JOKING! I CAN’T BELIEVE THESE LIES!” It shuffled forward, taking a lurching step. “YOU’RE JOKING ME, YOU GOTTA BE, I JUST CAUGHT YOU GUYS!”

There was a whimper, then the smell of piss, and then finally, a thump. Gav had just fainted.

Marty was rooted to the spot. This wasn’t real. All the shitty stuff he’d done in his life, the stealing, the pushing, the lying and the cheating. Surely even all that wasn’t bad enough for him to deserve the wrath of a giant singing sackman.

It took another step closer. With less distance, Marty could see _something_ writhing beneath the surface. A lot of somethings. The sackman’s skin bulged, twitching in weird places, its every movement coming in ungainly jerks and bursts.

“Who—w-what _are_ you!?”

Its leering face loomed in close to him. “OOGAH BOOGAH!” It bellowed in his face, mouth yawning wide. Marty couldn’t help but be drawn in closer, closer to the terrible, gaping maw.

As he saw the teeming masses writhing within, Marty decided now would be a great time to follow Gav’s example, and promptly passed out.

A block and a half away from the alleyway, Taylor kicked her legs gleefully, clutching her ribs with laughter. Oh my god. The expression on his face. Her decoy was better than she could ever have hoped.

She didn’t feel right just calling the puppet a decoy though. So much effort had gone into constructing it, and that deserved a real name. Though, come to think of it, that last random thing she’d yelled through her talkie, that had potential…

“Welcome to Brockton Bay, Oogie Boogie.”


End file.
